April 6 - 12, 2017
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Community Newspaper of Blaine and Birch Bay HHHECRWSSHHH Postal Customer
IN THIS
ISSUE
State parks open for free on select days in April, page 2
Blaine volunteers honored for years of service
Varsity baseball team celebrates wins, page 7
Blaine filmmaker looks back, page 10
PRSRT STD U. S. Postage PAID Permit NO. 87 Blaine, WA 98230
Chocolate bunny ears and more up for grabs at The C Shop
B y S t e fa n i e D o n a h u e
(See Volunteer, page 3)
s Once again, The C Shop is open for Easter from 2 to 7 p.m. through April 15. Come try some chocolate bunny ears. See more photos on page 15. Photo by Stefanie Donahue
School board positions up for election in November B y P at G r u bb Two Blaine school district board positions will be up for election on November 7, 2017. The seats are currently held by Mike Dodd, district 5 and Joan Lotze, district 3. District 3 includes Birch Bay Village and Point Whitehorn while district 5 includes Semiahmoo and some northern areas of Birch Bay. Dodd has been a school board director since 1977 while Lotze was appointed to the board in May 2014. Asked her intentions come November, Lotze said, “I’ll probably go for another term.”
Efforts to reach Dodd for comment were unsuccessful. The positions are four-year terms expiring in 2021. Anyone interested in filing for the election must be a registered voter residing inside the boundaries of the district to be represented. District boundary maps can be linked from the district information tab on the Blaine school district website. The Whatcom County Auditor’s Office (360/778-5100) can also verify a voter’s district. The filing period for these open positions is May 15–19. Prospective candidates
WCLS moves forward with negotiations on Vogt property B y S t e fa n i e D o n a h u e Birch Bay is inching closer to getting a library of its own after the Whatcom County Library System (WCLS) board of trustees voted to enter into negotiations on a property last month. At a meeting on March 28, the WCLS board of trustees voted 4–1 to authorize a two-member finance committee and executive director Christine Perkins to negotiate a price with a broker for a property offered by Gary and Cindy Lou
Vogt last year. During the meeting, the board voted to amend the WCLS facilities policy to provide increased authority to the district to purchase a property “on occasions when it really just makes sense,” Perkins said after the meeting. Adopted in 2007, the policy outlines methods and constraints to owning and operating library facilities within the WCLS jurisdiction. Historically, WCLS has worked with property owners to rent spaces for its public facilities; this
amendment aims to provide more flexibility to WCLS to purchase property on its own, she explained. On the table is an 0.86-acre property located at 7968 Birch Bay Drive. In September, the Vogt family offered the Craftsman-style house to WCLS or a “Friends of the Library” organization for $750,000. Since then, the WCLS board of trustees released a public survey and spent $50,000 on a site (See Library, page 3)
may file online, by mail, or in person. The current directors will hold office until December 2017 and are also eligible to run for re-election. Complete instructions on filing can be found at the Whatcom County Auditor’s website. Additional links, details and information about service on local school boards can also be accessed from the district’s website at blainesd.org. An informational meeting will take place at the Blaine school district office on Thursday, April 27, 3:30–4:30 p.m. For more information, contact Tina Padilla at the district office, 360/332-5881.
INSIDE
Committing thousands of hours to serve the community may sound like a lot to some, but for two longtime Blaine volunteers, it’s seemed like a blip in time. With a combined 17,180 hours of service completed at the Blaine Food Bank, volunteers Evelyn Bonallo and Jerry Bladies are being honored with The President’s Volunteer Service Award for lifetime achievement on behalf of the Corporation for National and Community Service. From 2 to 4 p.m. on Saturday, April 22, the Volunteer Center of Whatcom County will host a ceremony to present the awards to both volunteers. More than 200 people are expected to attend the event, located at the Blaine Senior Center, at 763 G Street. Bonallo’s volunteer work with the Blaine Food Bank dates back to its genesis, when it first began serving the community more than 40 years ago, she said. Since then, she’s racked up 6,700 hours of service, much of which was spent helping the organization with bookkeeping and administrative services. At age 91, she’s no longer an active volunteer, but often stops by to donate, she said. With 10,480 hours of service under his belt, Bladies spent about 15 years managing the operation and recalls serving about 75 families a week when he first got started. Since then, it’s expanded tremendously, he said. According to recent figures, the local food bank serves on average 400 families, or 1,500 individuals, on a weekly basis – more than 20,000 pounds of foodstuffs is dispersed in the process. Last year, the branch reported that it was serving 100 more families that it did the previous year. Since 1998, the Volunteer Center of Whatcom County has recorded an estimated 194,000 hours of volunteer service. “The dedicated group of volunteers in
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